Anhydrous Ammonia Leak at Traer Fertilizer Plant

By Dave Franzman

(PHOTO BY CONRAD SCHMIDT)

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By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Nov 20, 2009 at 11:01 AM CST

Story Updated: Nov 20, 2009 at 5:20 PM CST

TRAER - A small leak at a farm service facility in Traer led to a 15 minute evacuation for a handful of people.

The lead happened at the New Century FS Center on the eastern edge of Traer at about 9:30 Friday morning.

Operations manager Dan Sears says workers were pumping anhydrous ammonia from a large storage tank into a some smaller field or nurse tanks when the leak happened. Sears believes a four inch rubber o-ring failed, causing the anhydrous ammonia to spew out.

Fire officials from Traer and Dysart responded to the leak call and capped the tank and got rid of the fumes in about 15 minutes.

Four people from the FS Service Center and a nearby restaurant were evacuated for a short period of time. The town of Traer was not evacuated.

Sears estimates about 200-250 gallons of anhydrous ammonia leaked during the incident. He says environmental regulators consider that a small incident.

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